The opportunity was tempting and Pecco Bagnaia took advantage of it. Pedro Acosta’s hand and a little help at the end from teammate Enea Bastianini were also needed, but the Ducati rider took his sixth Sprint victory of the season at Motegi, the third in a row. Rival Jorge Martin was still good at recovering from 11th place on the grid to the final quarter, but this ranking allows the reigning world champion to reduce the gap to the world leader again to 15 points.
After some less than perfect starts, this time the Piedmontese got off to a good start from the front row and took the lead ahead of poleman Acosta. On the third lap, however, the KTM rider broke through and took the lead with a beautiful overtaking at turn 5. The Spanish rookie seemed to have all it takes to give himself his first victory in MotoGP, albeit in a Sprint, because once he took command he was able to manage the situation without major worries.
With four laps to go, however, he ruined everything, because he lost the front of his RC16, ending his race in the gravel, with the regret of having wasted a great opportunity. It therefore became a truly black day for KTM, because even Brad Binder, who was fourth in the early stages, was forced to retire due to a technical problem.
Bagnaia therefore found himself in the lead, with Bastianini behind him, but also Marc Marquez who in the final part of the race gave the sensation of being able to change pace significantly. And in this phase “Beast”, despite serving his own interests, given that the third in the World Championship is being played with #93, has taken on the role of the perfect squire.
On the penultimate lap, the Team Gresini rider tried the attack on the outside of turn 10, with Enea resisting on the inside, but ending up wide and allowing Marc to cross. The epilogue then came one corner later, with a braking move by the Rimini driver, who regained second position and then held on until the checkered flag.
Indeed, on the last lap Bastianini also got behind Bagnaia, who managed the advantage he had built, also because a few droplets of rain were starting to fall again on the Japanese track. With second place, Enea extended his lead over Marquez to 5 points, but Marc can also be satisfied after yet another comeback from the third row.
If you consider that he started from the fourth row, Martin may also be happy, who above all must regret the mistake in qualifying, even if in the race he didn’t give the impression of having the same pace as the best. With a great start that immediately took him to fifth place, however, he managed to limit the damage very well, allowing Bagnaia to only recover 6 points from him despite the success.
For the rest, we must point out the total dominance of the Ducatis, who monopolized the first seven positions, followed by Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez. It’s a shame for Maverick Vinales, however, who nullified the excellent front row he achieved this morning with a terrible start and in the end only finished ninth, also behind Jack Miller’s “survivor” KTM.
Marco Bezzecchi narrowly out of the points, while it was a complicated Saturday for Fabio Quartararo, with a Yamaha which, as he feared, seems to struggle a lot on a “stop and go” circuit like the Japanese one, and in the end he therefore had to settle 12th place, also behind Raul Fernandez’s Aprilia Trackhouse.
Luca Marini took the first Honda honor with 13th place, even if he was made easier in this: Johann Zarco got a long lap penalty for knocking out his pit mate Takaaki Nakagami, while Joan Mir ended up with wheels all over air almost immediately. At the finish line, although in 17th position, there is also Lorenzo Savadori, called by Trackhouse Racing to replace the injured Miguel Oliveira.
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